Middle East

New York Times: White House Reviews Military Plans Against Iran

add at:
2019-05-14 12:05:29

News - Middle East - Iran

At the direction of US national security adviser John Bolton, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan last week presented top White House national security officials with a new military plan aimed at Iran, which would see Washington deploy up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East, the New York Times reported Monday.

Citing unnamed administration officials, the Times said Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan presented the plan at a meeting of Trump’s top national security aides on broader Iran policy last Thursday.

The officials said that during the meeting, Shanahan gave an overview of the Pentagon’s planning and then turned to US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dunford to detail various force options.

“The uppermost option called for deploying 120,000 troops, which would take weeks or months to complete,” the report said.

The number of the US troops planned for the deployment “would approach the size of the American force that invaded Iraq in 2003,” the report added.

Among those attending the Thursday meeting were Bolton, CIA Director Gina Haspel and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats besides Dunford and Shanahan, the report noted.

However, spokesmen for Shanahan and Dunford declined to comment on the meeting.

Garrett Marquis, a National Security Council spokesman, said the US “does not seek war with Iran,” but it is “ready to defend US personnel and interests in the region.”

The report, however, said it is highly uncertain if Trump — who is currently seeking to pull US forces out of Afghanistan and Syria — would agree to send back so many forces to the region.

It is also unclear whether Trump has been briefed on the number of troops or other details in the plans, according to The Times.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have seen a sharp rise since April 2018, when Bolton — one of the administration’s most virulent Iran hawks — was appointed national security advisor. Later, Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 multilateral Iran nuclear deal and he designated Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a “foreign terrorist organization.”

Ahead of the first anniversary of Washington’s exit from the Iran deal on May 8, the US moved to force Iran’s oil exports to “zero” and, at the same time, sent an aircraft carrier strike group, a bomber squad, an amphibious assault ship, and a Patriot missile battery to the Middle East to try to step up pressure on Tehran.

About us

This page is the English version of Almasirah Media Network website and it focuses on delivering all leading News and developments in Yemen, the Middle East and the world.
In the eara of misinformation imposed by the main stream media in the Middle East and abroad, Almasirah Media Network strive towards promoting knowledge, principle values and justice, among all societies and cultures in the world, ...More